Using the Screening Measures and Scoring the Results

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The following screening measures are available for use by a clinician or program.
They can be filled out by patients or administered by the clinician during initial patient
interviews.
Modified Mini Screen

The Modified Mini Screen (MMS) is a generic screening measure for mood, anxiety, and
psychotic spectrum disorders. There are twenty-two questions with yes/no responses.
It takes about fifteen minutes to complete. For more information, see chapter 4 of the
clinicians guide.
To score the MMS, total the number of yes answers. A score of 6 or greater indicates
the likely presence of a psychiatric disorder. A patient who answers yes to question 4
should be monitored for suicidality. A patient who answers yes to questions 14 and 15
should be assessed for trauma.
SOURCES

Modified Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview

Alexander, M. J., G. Haugland, S. P. Lin, D. N. Bertollo, and F. A. McCorry. 2008. Mental Health Screening
in Addiction, Corrections and Social Service Settings: Validating the MMS. International Journal on the
Addictions 6 (1): 10519.

Mental Health Screening FormIII

The Mental Health Screening FormIII (MHSFIII) is a generic screening measure for
a range of disorders: schizophrenia; depression; PTSD; phobias; intermittent explosive,
delusional, sex/gender/identity, eating, manic, panic, obsessive-compulsive, and gambling
disorders; learning disabilities; and mental retardation. For more information, see chapter 4
of the clinicians guide.
The MHSFIII can be self-report, but the preferred mode of administration is for
staff members to read each item to patients and get their yes and no responses. After
completing all eighteen questions (question 6 has two parts), the staff member should
inquire about any yes response by asking the following:
When did this problem first develop?
How long did it last?
Did the problem develop before, during, or after you started using substances?
What was happening in your life at that time?

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS PROGRAM: SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT

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Using the Screening Measures and Scoring the Results

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The total number of yes responses does not necessarily indicate any specific disorder.
A skilled clinician must evaluate each response carefully.
SOURCE

Carroll, J. F. X., and J. J. McGinley. 2001. A Screening Form for Identifying Mental Health Problems
in Alcohol/Other Drug Dependent Persons. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 19 (4): 3347.

CAGE Adapted to Include Drugs (CAGE-AID)

The CAGE-AID is a sensitive screen for alcohol and drug problems. CAGE is an
acronym for

C - Ever try to Cut back on your drinking or drug use?

A - Ever been Annoyed by anyone about your drinking or drug use?
G - Ever felt Guilty or ashamed about your drinking or drug use?
E - Ever had an Eye-opener or used alcohol or drugs in the morning?
Answering yes to any of these questions indicates an alcohol or drug use problem.
SOURCES

CAGE Adapted to Include Drugs

Brown, R., and L. Rounds. 1991. Conjoint Screening Questionnaires for Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Two
Pilot Studies. Unpublished study.
CAGE
Ewing, J. A. 1984. Detecting Alcoholism: The CAGE Questionnaire. Journal of the American Medical
Association 252:19057.

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS PROGRAM: SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT

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Using the Screening Measures and Scoring the Results

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Simple Screening Instrument for Alcohol and Other Drugs (SSI-AOD)

The SSI-AOD consists of sixteen items and is therefore more specific than the CAGEAID. It is simple to use, reliable, and valid.
Questions 1 and 15 are not scored. Answering yes to four or more questions indicates
an alcohol or drug use disorder.
SOURCE

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. 1994. Simple screening instruments for outreach for alcohol
and other drug abuse and infectious diseases. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 11.
DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 94-2094. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.

Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale)

The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale) was developed by
L. S. Radloff and published in 1977. It has been widely used in medication, psychosocial
treatment, and clinical setting prevalence studies. The CES-D Scale has twenty items
about depressive symptoms. Items are rated on a 4-point scale as to how many days the
respondent was bothered by these symptoms over the past week. A total score of 60 is
possible, though scores of 16 or greater (mild to moderate depression) and 21 or greater
(major depression) are considered clinically significant.
SOURCE

Radloff, L. S. 1977. The CES-D Scale: A Self Report Depression Scale for Research in the General
Population. Applied Psychological Measurement 1:385401.

Life Events Checklist and PTSD Checklist (PCL)

The Life Events Checklist is part of the screening measure used with the ClinicianAdministered PTSD Scale (CAPS), a structured clinical interview to determine DSM-IV
diagnosis of PTSD and symptom severity published by Western Psychological Services.
The Life Events Checklist assesses a respondents experience of seventeen possible
negative life events. These life events often qualify as DSM-IV PTSD diagnosis Criterion A
events. The respondent will indicate whether or not he or she experienced one or more of
these events, and the clinician will review this list post-screening. Item 17 (Any other
very stressful event or experience) may not qualify as a Criterion A event.
Note: Criterion A for PTSD (from the DSM-IV, pages 427428):
The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present: (1) The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with
an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS PROGRAM: SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT

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Using the Screening Measures and Scoring the Results

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threat to the physical integrity of self or others; (2) the persons response
involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
SOURCE

Blake, D. D., F. W. Weathers, L. M. Nagy, D. G. Kaloupek, D. S. Charney, and T. M. Keane. 1996. The
Development of a Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. Journal of Traumatic Stress 8:7580.

The PTSD Checklist (PCL) is a seventeen-item instrument that respondents rate using
a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely), pertaining to how bothered they are
by symptoms related to the traumatic event(s) listed on the Life Events Checklist.
These items are rated as the respondent experiences them over the past month. These
items tap into the DSM-IV PTSD B (re-experiencing), C (hyper-arousal) and D (avoidance)
criteria. Scores of 44 or more, in conjunction with at least one qualifying Criterion A
event on the Life Events Checklist, are associated with a diagnosis of PTSD. Higher
scores are associated with increased symptom severity.
SOURCE

Blanchard, E. B., J. Jones-Alexander, T. C. Buckley, and C. A. Forneris. 1996. Psychometric Properties of

the PTSD Checklist (PCL). Behavior Research and Therapy 34:66973.

SIAS

The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) was developed and published by Mattick
and Clarke in 1998 and has been used to assess prevalence, severity, and treatment outcomes of social phobia and social anxiety disorders. The SIAS is a twenty-item measure
on which respondents rate their experiences in social situations associated with social
anxiety and social phobia DSM-IV criteria. Experiences are rated on a 5-point scale
from 0 (not at all characteristic of me) to 4 (extremely characteristic of me). Experiences
are rated on a global period of what is typical. A total score of 60 is possible with cutoffs
of 34 or more indicative of social phobia (specific situations of irrational social fears with
avoidance and impairment) and 43 or more indicative of social anxiety (generalized
irrational fears across numerous social situations with avoidance and impairment). Note
that on items 5, 9, and 11 scoring is reversed (a 0 = 4, a 1 = 3) to assess for response
validity.
SOURCE

Mattick, R., and C. Clarke. 1998. Development and Validation of Measure of Social Phobia Scrutiny Fear
and Social Interaction Anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy 36:45570.

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS PROGRAM: SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT

2008 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Duplicating this material for personal or group use is permissible.